Following nearly 30 years of civil war, Angola is now rebuilding its health system. The arrival of peace has created conditions for a potentially dramatic increase in HIV/AIDS rates. The countries bordering Angola all suffer from high HIV prevalence. The end of combat has opened these borders, encouraging greater commercial trade and allowing refuges to return to their homes. A 2003 UNDP/UNICEF study reported HIV rates ranging from 5.5% (UNAIDS) to 8.6% (Angolan Government) and estimated that up to 18% of the population would be infected by 2010. Due to the urgent need to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis, the USAID mission in Angola requested the assistance of the M&L Program to strengthen governmental institutional capacity and facilitate collaboration among the government HIV/AIDS programs, NGOs, and private sector organizations.

The M&L Program implemented activities from September 2003 through August 2004 to strengthen the management and leadership of the National AIDS Control Program (PNLS). PNLS is a program based in the Ministry of Health's Section of Infectious Diseases. At the time, it had a staff of only four employees, limited control over its budget, poor physical infrastructure, and very little coordination with other MOH programs, governmental agencies, and the many NGOs involved in HIV/AIDS. In addition, USAID/Angola asked M&L to represent USAID on the World Bank Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program (MAP) initiative team.

Summary of Work

USAID/Angola funding to M&L activities for FY 2003 was $200,000. The mission expressed optimism regarding the potential for future significant earmarks. M&L therefore planned activities with the expectation that the program would receive funding in subsequent project years. In the end, USAID/Angola committed only the $200,000 in FY 2003 funds. Due to the limited funding and changes in the scope of work based on input from PNLS, the planned activities were modified. M&L completed three major activities with the FY 2003 funding.

M&L participation in World Bank missions
An M&L monitoring and evaluation expert participated in two World Bank missions in support of the MAP, which falls under the HAMSET Program in Angola . The purpose of the October 2003 mission was to define the HIV/AIDS project activities and costs of HAMSET, propose actions for appropriate implementation, and develop an action plan for the government to prepare necessary documentation prior to receiving the $20 million in project funding. The follow-up mission in February 2004 continued to move the project forward in the areas of institutional arrangements, project costs and activities, monitoring and evaluation, and procurement.

Production of summaries of National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan
In response the urgent need to disseminate the content of the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan to the districts, M&L developed an easy-to-read summary of the plan in Portuguese and printed 500 copies. These copies were sent to PNLS for local distribution in July 2004.

Leadership Development workshop for MOH HIV/AIDS Program staff in Luanda
M&L originally planned to conduct a series of leadership workshops in three districts for all stakeholders involved in fighting the AIDS epidemic (with concrete plans to facilitate the first workshop in Huambo in June 2004). When it became clear that additional funding would not be available, PNLS requested that M&L redesign the curriculum to focus on the leadership development needs of MOH and NGO staff in Luanda and to conduct the workshop in August 2004. Twenty-five staff from the MOH and NGOs involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment participated in the program.

The workshop's primary goal was to aid the key players in HIV/AIDS programs to build a shared vision of coordinating HIV/AIDS activities in Angola. Highlights of the workshop included:

• Developing a shared mission statement and mapping the journey of the struggle against HIV/AIDS in Angola from 1985 until 2008, the end of the current five-year national plan;
   
• Focusing on the importance of leadership through the lens of M&L's Leadership and Management Framework, which was translated into Portuguese for use in the workshop;
   
• Prioritizing the most crucial leadership challenges related to HIV/AIDS. Participants developed strategies for closing performance gaps in the following areas: lack of cooperation among organizations; lack of standardized information; low capacity of advocates to disseminate information at the community level; and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
   

Results

The M&L Program made strategic contributions to the PNLS in the areas of coordination with the World Bank, dissemination of the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan, and leadership development at the national level. Participants from the M&L leadership development workshop in Luanda expressed their strong desire to form an active multi-sectoral AIDS committee that would regularly participate in management and leadership seminars. Dr. Dulcelina Serrano, the Director of PNLS is a strong advocate of improved management and leadership in HIV/AIDS coordination and welcomes continued support.